“You will see my father like you’ve never seen before,” announced Sajitha Anuttara at the premiere of Seeruwen (titled ‘Attention!’ in English) movie. Listening to Sajitha’s speech about his father, Jackson Anthony, it became evident how little we truly knew about his extraordinary talent. Many actors spend time preparing for their roles, but only a few achieved the depth and dedication Jackson Anthony exhibited.
Jackson Anthony has long been celebrated as a gifted performer. Only a few knew him as an orator of gifted intellect too. This dual talent enabled him to tackle some of the most demanding characters in cinema.
His portrayal in Ksheera Sagaraya Kelabina, where he depicted an emperor renouncing luxuries in search of truth, is the last we remember of his ability to blend contrasting traits into a performance. We have seen enough emperors. We have seen enough men who renounced.
But not really a combination. Anthony’s extraordinarily demanding performance was indeed an expensive visual treat. His role in the movie Seeruwen also falls into the ‘extraordinarily demanding’ category.
He plays a retired army general living alone in a mansion. Most notably, this general is blind. A gang plans to rob him, assuming that his substantial compensation from the government is hidden in the mansion since his bank accounts are empty.
They believe his blindness will make the heist easy. However, as the movie progresses, the general’s military discipline proves to be a.